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Mathews IT Services received accreditation from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on the 3rd day of March 2018. We are committed to providing excellent service to our customers and joining the BBB gives our clients peace of mind that we are held accountable for our services. The BBB requires that accredited business adheres to its policies and procedures to ensure that they remain compliant.

According to The Better Business Bureau standards for trust are eight principles that summarize important elements of creating and maintaining trust in business.

Build Trust – Establish and maintain a positive track record in the marketplace.

Advertise Honestly – Adhere to established standards of advertising and selling.

Tell the Truth – Honestly represent products and services, including clear and adequate disclosures of all material terms.

Be Transparent – Openly identify the nature, location, and ownership of the business, and clearly disclose all policies, guarantees, and procedures that bear on a customer’s decision to buy.

Honor Promises – Abide by all written agreements and verbal representations.

Be Responsive – Address marketplace disputes quickly, professionally, and in good faith.

Safeguard Privacy – Protect any data collected against mishandling and fraud, collect personal information only as needed, and respect the preferences of consumers regarding the use of their information.

Embody Integrity – Approach all business dealings, marketplace transactions, and commitments with integrity.

WannaCry 2.0 Ransomware Ready For More Destruction As It Learns To Combat The Kill Switch

History has never seen ransomware bring more than half the world’s computers to a standstill. On Friday, May 12, 2017, computers around the world were disabled by the biggest ransomware attack known as “WannaCry” that targeted Microsoft’s Windows Operating Systems. The malware attack has now infected over 2,00,000 Windows based devices in 150 countries. The attack spreads by multiple methods, including phishing emails and on unpatched systems as a computer worm.

For those unaware, WannaCry is a fast-spreading ransomware that leverages a Windows exploit to target a computer running on unpatched or unsupported versions of Windows and servers and then spread itself like a worm to infect other vulnerable systems in the internal network. The attack spreads by multiple methods, including phishing emails and on unpatched systems as a computer worm.

Soon, after the initial release of the ransomware on May 12, 2017, a U.K.-based researcher going by the name of MalwareTech accidentally discovered a “kill switch” in the malware. The researcher then registered a domain which the malware seems to ping before infection. The registration of the domain name stopped the attack spreading and acted like a kill switch, making it inactive. The creators behind “WannaCry” quickly evolved around the domain-based kill switch and altered the code to remove the kill-switch and restart their campaign. Security researchers have discovered variants of the Windows malware that either doesn’t have a kill switch, or which ping to a different domain than the one discovered by the researcher.

Microsoft has released a software patch (MS17-010) for the security holes on March 14, 2017. Microsoft has now not only encouraged users to download the security patches released for the vulnerability back in March but also created security patches for several now-unsupported versions of Windows, including Windows XP, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003.

Chris M.: “Absolutely – much cheaper than you would think too!” “Would you like to know more?”

As technology advances over the years, we find that it also becomes more accessible. To put this into perspective, Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone to the general public. That’s you and me! The powers that be at Apple headquarters knew what they had in their hands and grew into a major competitor in the tech world. The ever growing demand for cellular and mobile devices to have a constant connection to the internet paved the way for today’s cellular and wireless networks.

We depend on our mobile service providers to supply us with a connection to the internet superhighway, however, when we are at home we depend on our WiFi router to take over. This is a service typically provided by out internet service providers or ISP, however, the equipment that they use is not only leased to you at a monthly fee but it is also used equipment at that. If you have the benefit of having your wireless router in the living room or office area, then you will more than likely have a great signal. On the other hand, if you move too far away from the wireless router or it is install in your closet (like so many these days), then your signal may not be sufficient to cover your entire home. To address the lack of coverage some suggest WiFi extenders that use the electrical lines in your home to distribute the connection throughout your home. Not only is this inefficient but it also introduces a lot of electrical noise into a sensitive single.

Network administrators have known this for years and I would like to share it with you now. Enterprise-grade wireless equipment talks to each other passing clients from one device (access point or AP) to another. This allows for WiFi users to roam around the office, hospital, warehouses, and your home for example without dropping their connection to the network or internet. These devices can broadcast multiple service set identifiers (SSID. This is the WiFi name that you would connect to) which can separate guest traffic from internal traffic. Imagine if you could wake around your house without disrupting your streaming media. I know that I enjoy streaming Amazon Music and when I am walking around I do not know what my music to skip a beat. Wouldn’t you like to be able to experience uninterrupted streams of your favorite media?

If you would like to know more about the services we offer, including in-home enterprise-grade wireless networks – contact us today! 713-575-9514

Email and how it all began!

Electronic mail, or email, is a method of exchanging digital messages between people using digital devices such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Email first entered substantial use in the 1960s and by the mid-1970s had taken the form now recognized as email. Learning more about electronic mail and how it all began! 1968 Ray Tomlinson

For Immediate Release: Change of Operations

Mathews IT Services is making the move to Connectwise Automate formally known as Labtech Software for our remote monitoring and management platform. This process will take place over the next few weeks to ensure an easy and seamless transition from one platform to the another. LabTech is more than just software, it is a valuable tool that allows us (Mathews IT Services) to better assist our clients. Our very own Chris Mathews is a Certified Labtech Professional and is looking forward to getting his hands on the newest version of Connectwise Automate (aka: Labtech).

On this day, December 7 in 1941 at 7:55am Hawaii time the United States was attacked by the Japanse dive bombers bearing the Rising Sun of Japan on their wings. The surprise attack on US Naval forces struck a crucial blow to the U.S. Pacific Naval Fleet. The home base being Pearl Harbor and with most of the fleet at the dock, the loss of American lives was quite severe.

The day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, President Roosevelt appears before congress and declared a state of war between the United States of America and Japan. The US contribution to the successful Allied war span for four long years and cost half a million American lives in the process.

Much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless: Five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, many while valiantly attempting to repulse the attack. Japan’s losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men.

Did you know that our very own Chris Mathews is a Labtech Certified Professional?

LabTech is the industry-leading IT automation software designed to allow your IT company to automate any IT task you or your company may require. While the program is wonderful and robust as can possibly be (Labtech can do anything you can do and more), however, it does require constant administration. That is where we step in. Mathews IT Services is well trained in Labtech and we are willing to share our knowledge with you. We offer managed LabTech services that allow you to support your client’s needs, while we take care of the daunting task of babysitting your LabTech server. As LabTech Software continues to develop the RMM tool, we develop with it. Constantly keeping up with the ever-changing times from versions 10, 10.5, and now moving into 11.

Are you ready to upgrade to LabTech 11?

Who says going to the doctor needs to be stressful? Well, this office wants you to be as comfortable as possible.

Cypress Heart and Vascular Center has begun to use Oculus Virtual Reality to help patients by reducing stress and anxiety. Doctor Fadi Alameddine, MD, F.A.C.C., F.S.C.A.I. and his staff located at 21212 Northwest Freeway, POB 2, Suite 325, Cypress, Texas 77429 have begun to use technology like no other doctors office. Cypress Heart and Vascular Center wants to ease your stress and anxiety levels during in-office procedures.

The Hard Disk Drive

The Hard Disk Drive or HDD has come a long way in regards to their capacities (well over 100,000 times more storage capacity than observed in this image), and the performance is better than ever! It is simple enough to walk into your local computer store or even a major retailer and pick up a one terabyte hard drive (1 TB) and pay less than $100 USD for it. Hard drives hold everything on your machine, from the operating system itself to the very documents, images, music, and videos that you are used to using almost every day.

A look back into history tells us that commercial use of the hard disk drive began in 1956 with the IBM Model 350 as a component of the IBM 305 RAMAC computer. The HDD IBM Model 350 stored 5 million 6-bit characters, that is just over 3.5 MB. To put that into perspective, the average MP3 file is about 3.5 MB or greater depending on the length and quality of the file. It is very likely that the remote control you use to change the channel has more storage capacity than this early hard disk drive.

Time have most certainly changed, we are now used to capacities in the hundreds of gigabytes and even several terabytes, these capacities have become the “norm” and would not accept anything less. With the high demand for performance and speed, hard disk drives needed to evolve to meet that demand. They have evolved so much that the day of technology is moving moved toward solid state drives (SSD) or the mechanical hard disk drive. The question today is, “…should I get an SSD or HDD?” The advantages of a solid state hard drive are measurable and consistent but come at a greater cost for the hardware. Personally, I use a solid state drive for my operating systems and a hard disk drive for cold storage or archiving purposes.

It has been 60 years since the first hard disk drive was put into commercial use and you would not be able to recognize virtually in any way. They have advanced at such a rate they are very different than what they use to be. Imagine what storage devices will look like in another 60 years…what capacity will be considered normal? Some of us may never see that day and for those of us that do may never fully appreciate the technology we have today.